Peace is not an absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
Spinoza
I have been more or less arguing this for some time. You can have “peace” in totalitarian states, in the sense that no one is openly hurting or killing anyone else. For example, in Cuba the rate crime of sujugated citizen against other subjugated citizens is no doubt low, since there are eyes on every block watching everything.
Is this peace, though? Of course not. You can generate apparent tranquility, as defined as lack of movement, by locking someone in a cage which physically prevents them from moving, as many Communist regimes did, with their so-called “soft” torture.
“Peace” is properly an outflow of energy, of the seemingly contradictory combination of relaxed energy, of joy, of happiness, of generosity, of devotion.
Again, people want to make a continuum more or less between war and tedium. Either you have a grand cause or you are bored and boring. This is the whole point of leftism: justifying war. It grants energy to the terminally “ennui’ed”, if I might be permitted something new.
I will never forget Hitler’s account of what happened when war was declared (in 1914, I guess it was): jubilation. Everyone was elated, happy. There had been this grand malaise in the air, and here it was lifted. Like everyone else, he rushed to enlist.
My whole project with regard to Goodness has to do with pointing out that not only is its end of the continuum–the other end–not tedious, but that it is infinitely MORE INTERESTING, and more creative. Sex is fun: love is more interesting. Power scratches the itch: love heals. Violence engages: Goodness expands.
The identity you create through conflict is hard and jagged; that created by Goodness is soft and light. It can go anywhere, through anything, to the highest highs, and when needed, to the lowest lows. You are free.